(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drug delivery composition comprising a hyaluronic acid-peptide conjugate micelle and a production method thereof. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method of producing a drug-loaded, hyaluronic acid-peptide conjugate micelle, and a drug-loaded, hyaluronic acid-peptide micelle produced thereby, which can be adopted for a drug delivery system for various water-insoluble drugs, can be applied for a human body since the drug is packing inside a biocompatible and biodegradable micelle delivery system, and can provide an extended duration for a medicinal effect, and wherein the drug can also act in combination with a therapeutic effect of the micelle delivery system itself.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Amphiphilic polymers form a micelle structure in an aqueous solution since the water solubility of their hydrophilic moiety greatly differs from that of their hydrophobic moiety. In the aqueous solution, the micelle has a unique core-shell structure wherein the hydrophobic moieties form an inner core and the hydrophilic moieties form an outer shell. The inner cores of such micelle can be filled with water-insoluble drugs, thereafter which would show a greatly-enhanced water solubility and an extended duration of an medicinal effect. Furthermore, it is possible to control a drug distribution in a body depending on the size of the micelle and to deliver a drug onto a target depending on the surface properties thereof. For that reason, recent studies have been underway to develop micelles as a drug delivery system for the water insoluble drug.
Researches have been conducted to utilize various hydrophilic polymers for the formation of the outer sell, and as a representative example, polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been widely used. Although PEG is one of typical biopolymer materials officially approved by FDA, when being repeatedly injected, the PEG-Liposome conjugate has been reported to suffer accelerated blood clearance (ABC) wherein the administered drug is rapidly lost in a body.